FEATURES

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The lowest bid he got to construct the house was $72,000, so he decided to serve as his own contractor. He built it with his own hands, along with three carpenters from Brooklyn, and finished on budget. The 1,200-square-foot house is three stories high, with an outdoor stair and deck protruding on one side and a tall, semicircular stair tower on the other. It looks like a cube with cutouts.

"Think of it as a sculpture, a solid block you carve away," Gwathmey explains. "What's left is form and space and light. To me it's about the essence of a house, not about architecture or anything applied."

It is clad in pale gray, vertical cedar siding, with small accents of color (a yellow beam, a red pipe and a blue railing). "It's my homage to Rietveld," Gwathmey says, referring to the Dutch modernist architect who employed primary colors in his designs.

The lower floor has two small guest rooms and a workspace. The public spaces (living, dining, kitchen) are on the second floor to capitalize on views across the dunes to the Atlantic Ocean.

Gwathmey designed most of the furniture—the "Rosalie" dining table, four Art Deco-inspired leather and wood armchairs and a coffee table in dark-stained bamboo. Wood cabinetry is built in. The only antiques are the early 20th-century black dining room chairs with cut-out backs, found in a gallery in Paris.

In restoring the house, Gwathmey made few changes. He installed three new windows, added white honed marble floors, maple cabinetry and stainless steel appliances. The walls are punctuated with photos by Charlie's mother, a photographer, and paintings by his father.